He went to England on a shoestring.
Shoestring must have gone further in those days, wwh.
Nowadays an abrasive poet is lucky to have shoes on his feet. His verse may be freer, but the cost of travel has gone way up.
A poet's purse is seldom as good as his verse, even at the best of times.
Why did the poet cross the pond? Perhaps he crossed the pond in the hope that his absence would make hearts grow fonder.
The arts are a fickle mistress. When a poet has celebrity, the arts are doting. When not, they are mostly doubting. Talent usually has nothing to do with it.
A poet who makes it abroad can be a sensation back home even if he doesn't actually "make it" there.
Snubbing the arts is often the best way to win them over. [Which may explain why Frost came back over ... and the arts are the better for it in spite of their fickle ways.]
